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The facade of Bhabani Cinema was hidden beneath layers of posters, handbills and grime for years. But it has been brought back to life by a handful of citizens who refused to look away. In just seven days, the neglected entrance has been transformed into a cleaner, brighter and visually appealing facade.

‘We ripped everything off’

“It was basically a huge mess,” says Mudar Patherya, who’s part of the initiative. “The first thing we did was rip everything off.” Once the layers of posters were removed, the team cleaned the façade before repainting it. The restoration soon became a collaborative effort, with the wall scraped and repainted, the stylised blue signage recreated, and traditional alpona motifs added along the base to frame the entrance.



An anonymous intervention

There was never any intention of claiming the space. “People asked, ‘Why are you doing it? It’s not your place.’ But these small interventions make neighbourhoods look a little better,” says Mudar. “All it required was cleaning and somebody to apply basic paint and the place started looking better, with the alpona making a big difference.” The work was voluntary, and deliberately left unsigned. As Mudar puts it, “There is no organisation’s name, no phone number and no credit on the restored façade.”

Big dreams ahead

The brushes have not been put away yet. The volunteers plan to repaint the ticket window grills, gates and other metal fixtures over the coming days. Beyond that is a more ambitious possibility. If the owner can be traced and permission received, the team wants to transform the wall into a façade museum as there is room for something really special. Mudar adds, “We’ll do more, but without any commercial interest.”